Terrible Things
by AwkwardAwesomeness
Summary: "They have her eyes." "Yeah, and I don't know if that's killing me or keeping me alive."


_Italics means memory_

* * *

Emily yawned, leaning her right elbow against the arm of the couch, mindlessly watching Tv. Her daughter, Lily, sitting on the same couch with her feet propped up on Emily's lap, with a bowl of popcorn, actually invested in the movie they were watching. Her other daughter, Grace, sat on the recliner with her phone being her only point of focus.

"Hey, Mom?" Grace called out, clicking the off button on her phone, dropping it into her lap.

Emily shifted her gaze from the Tv, "Yeah?"

"Why don't you ever talk about mom?" She questioned softly.

Emily froze for a split second, swallowing thickly, "What?" Lily looked over at the two of them, gaining interest in the topic of conversion.

"Uhm, well I just wanted to ask because I was thinking about her all day." The younger brunette answered, nibbling on her thumb, something she did when she was nervous.

"What brought this on?" Emily asked, tilting her head, concerningly "Did something happen today?"

"No...Yeah, but not really. It wasn't a big deal, it just got me thinking." Grace answered a little quickly, running her finger through her slightly wavy black hair. When she looked up her mom and sister looked at her expectedly. Rolling her eyes, she continued, "You know there's a new swim coach, right?"

Emily nodded.

"Well, when she was getting to know the team and then she did like a roll call sorta, like names and stuff. When she got my name she looked at me and was like _'You're a DiLaurentis?'_ and I said yeah. Then she moved on like nothing happened. But she was just like, I don't know, so _shocked_ , I guess?"

"What is this coaches name?"

"Coach M-McCullers, I think?" She looked at Lily, hoping her twin would confirm. Lily nodded to her mom, shoving a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth.

Emily rolled her eyes, that woman had zero tact.

"Anyway, I was just wondering because that was kinda weird." Grace finished looking at her mom hoping she would give at least _some_ information.

Emily sighed deeply looking at her daughters. Surely they deserved to know about their mom. Didn't they?

* * *

The three-person family sat on Emily's bed. Grace and Lily flipped through a scrapbook with tons of pictures of Emily, Alison, and all their friends.

Grace looked up at her mom eagerly, "So you gonna tell us about her or what?"

Emily laughed lightly at her excited kids.

"Yeah, what was she like?" Lily chimed in, just as eager.

"She was..." Emily huffed out some air, trying to accumulate the rights words to describe her, "She was Ali."

 _Emily_ sat _at her desk, tapping her pen against the book she was supposed to be reading, looking at the clock, not being able to wait for the bell to ring. When it finally rang, she shot out her chair, trying to rush past everyone to be the first one out, until Mrs. Montgomery called her, causing her to stop in her tracks. She turned around begrudgingly, kicking herself for walking instead of running._

 _"Yes?" She walked up to her teacher._

 _"This is Alison." Mrs. Montgomery answered._

 _"Hi," Emily_ said _curtly, trying not to sound rude._

 _"Hi," Alison said back, a smirk beginning on her face._

 _"She's a transfer from Rosewood Day, and I was thinking you could show her around." She looks at Emily expectantly._

 _"Uh… Yeah, sure." She looked towards the blonde, "Come on, Alison._

 _Alison followed her out the classroom, matching her strides with the fast brunette. Emily turned around, "I'm sorry, am I walking to fast?" She asked sounding worried._

 _"Yeah, you kinda are."_

 _"Sorry." She said bashfully._

 _"It's okay."_

 _Emily glanced at the blonde, seemingly lost in thought. "Do you mind if we stop somewhere?"_

"And after that, she made take her out for coffee because I made her late for her next class." Emily finishes the first part of her lengthy story.

"Ooh. What happened after that?" Lily smiled impatiently, she loved a good romance story.

Emily smiled warmly, a certain light coming back to her eyes, "We became study buddies."

 _Alison gave up on her homework, a little bit ago and decided to watch Emily, she looked really cute all focused, Alison mused._

 _Emily looked up, meeting those crystal blues, "What?" She smiled gently, she seemed content, and she was._

 _Alison smiled back, "Nothing."_

 _Emily could tell she was hiding something. "What is it? Really?" She pressed the blonde._

 _Alison sucked in some air, "I really shouldn't say." Her mouth twisted into an innocent smile, her dimples were showings._

 _"Come on." Emily urged, dying to know._

 _"I know you're in love with me."_

 _Emily froze, the smile dropping from her face,_

 _"I can tell by your eyes."_

"So she just flat out said I know you're in love with me?" Graced had a surprised expression on her face,

"Mhm." Emily hummed with a slight nod.

"Badass," Grace muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

Lily rolled her eyes at her sister, setting her sites on her mom, "So what happened after that?"

"We got together not too long after that happened," Emily smiled, "One of the greatest day of my life."

 _They sat on a blanket at the highest point of Rosewood, looking over the small, yet beautiful town. They sat in silence looking up at stars, sharing a flask with Alison's favorite concoction. Emily didn't know what was in it, Alison insisted on keeping it a secret, so the brunette didn't push. Emily looked down at_ Alison, _who had her face nuzzled in her neck, with Emily's letterman jacket wrapped around her body since she had gotten cold. Alison looked up at Emily, sensing, her gaze._

 _"Hi." Emily grinned at her._

 _"Hi." Alison grinned back, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, and Emily noticed._

 _"Hey," Emily's eyebrows creased with worry, "What's wrong, Babe?"_

 _"Nothing, I-I Just," She swallowed thickly, "I just love you so much," She had tears forming in her eyes, "And-And I don't want to lose you. I just-I can't."_

 _"Whoa Whoa Whoa, Calm down, Ali. Where is this coming from?" Emily sat up with the blonde still in her arms, wiping the tears that were starting to fall._

 _"We have three months left together until you go to California and I'm in Jersey. What if when you get there you meet this hot beach bitch, and you forget all about me, while I'm stuck in the cold with stuck up rich kids." Alison expressed her worries out loud, feeling better to get them off her chest._

 _"What?" Emily screeched in total disbelief, "That would never happen. No matter where I go, or where you go, My heart will beat for you and you only. You don't think I'm afraid of leaving you off to some rich boys who think they can do whatever they want? If it were up to me I would go with you but I didn't apply to Princeton. And I promise you, no matter what time it is, you can call and I will **always** answer. I'll take a plane every single weekend to come to you. All you have to do is ask. We're Alison and Emily, Emily and Alison. And That will **Never** change. I love you way too much." She said it so honestly, Alison could **feel** her words, and she started crying even harder._

 _"And besides," Emily added after a beat, "Emily and beach bitch don't go together like Emison."_

 _And for some odd reason, Alison thought that was the funniest thing to ever happen, so she laughed through her tear and gave Emily a sort, soft kiss, "I knew there was a reason I wanted to date you."_

 _"And I knew there was a reason I wanted to date you_ , _" Emily said back, thankful she got her girlfriend to smile._

"Emison?" Grace smirked.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Hanna started calling us that. It eventually caught on and everyone called us Emison, it was our ship name."

"Aunt Hanna is a total dork." she laughed back.

"Tell me about it." Emily smiled, remember when Hanna called them Emison for the first time, "At least we won cutest couple in the yearbook."

"Awesome." Lily grinned at her mom, "So, who proposed to who?"

 _"Ali, you have_ a package _," Emily walked_ into _their apartment. After a year at Princeton Alison couldn't take the distance so she transferred UCLA. Emily was shocked,_ to _say the least, but she felt a little guilty about Alison picking up her life to move across the country for her. After constant reassurance from Alison that she actually wanted to move, they had an amazing time together. They both lived in separate dorms until they got an apartment together. After_ graduating _from college, Emily was working to become a physical_ therapist _and Alison in management. As of_ now _, they were both 24._

 _"For what?" Emily heard Alison's feet_ padded _into the living_ room _until she came into view placing a sweet kiss on Emily's lips. "Where is it?" She asked, wrapping her arm around Emily's neck._

 _"On the couch." She answered, putting her hand around her waist, leaning in for another kiss. Alison happily obliged._

 _Alison pulled back after she felt Emily was getting carried away, but not without paying the consequences of seeing her pout. Alison went to grab the package._

 _"Do you know what it is?" Alison sat it on the dining room table, going_ into _a drawer to grab a knife._

 _Uhh_... _Spencer mentioned she sent you something and it should be here today. Sooo, I'm guessing it's what she sent you." Emily stood on the opposite side of Alison, trying to contain her smile._

 _As Alison was opening the box, she didn't notice Emily get on one knee. When she opened the box she saw a single piece of paper. She gasped as she saw the words,_

 ** _Will you marry Me? -Emily_**

 _She looked at the paper looking up only to notice Emily on the floor with a goofy smile plastered on her face, holding a little black box in her hand._

 _"I was gonna do this whole big proposal thing with a nice dinner while we were all dressed up, But then I realized it shouldn't be a traditional thing, ya know? I wanted us to have a nice moment with just us, because I only get to propose to you once and why not while you're wearing a pug sweatshirt." Emily opened the box, showing a Round Aquamarine 18 karat white gold ring._

 _Alison covered her mouth, tears streaming out of her eyes nodding her head vigorously, Taking the ring out of the box placing on her left ring finger._

 _"Now this," Emily announces still on the floor, "This is the part when you pull me to kiss you because you can't believe this is happening and we passionately make love until about 5 in the morning."_

 _Alison rolled her eyes at Emily, pulling her up nonetheless. "I love you so much." Alison jumped up, wrapping her legs around Emily's waist._

 _"I love you too."_

"How did you come up with that idea?" Lily asked, completely in awe of her mother's romantic abilities.

Emily shrugged, "I just wanted it to be special, but also a complete surprise because I guarantee you she didn't see in coming."

"That was seriously a great idea mom," Grace complemented, tiredly.

"Yeah, when our friends and family found out they all thought it was a great idea, too. "Emily admits proudly.

"After the wedding, we went to Paris for our honeymoon, and we went every summer until you guys were born."

"You and mom had an awesome love story." Lily yawned, laying down on the comfortable queen bed.

Emily looked at the time, noticing it was 11, which means they were talking for hours. Grace and Lily were tired out of their minds, so Emily went to grab a few blankets making sure her daughters were warm, before getting into bed, staring up at the ceiling. She left the last part of the story, The tragedy.

 _A year after moving back to Rosewood, the couple decided they wanted kids. Alison insisted on carrying them not wanting to pass off her bad genes onto an innocent baby. Alison was diagnosed with preeclampsia while pregnant, and the doctors told her not to worry, and to take it slow, later the preeclampsia turned into eclampsia and there was a chance Alison and the babies weren't gonna make it. Of course, Emily was devastated because she could lose the love of her life and her babies, who she had never gotten to meet. The doctors finally got everything under control with Ali, putting her on bed rest. All Emily could worry about was the love of her life sitting on their bed having nothing to do. Everything was fine. Until it wasn't. Emily had woken up in the middle of the night feeling wetness on her leg, Emily thought Alison's water may have broken, since it was about that time, she was absolutely shocked and turned on the light, pushing the blanket of them both, a scream was caught in her throat when she realized it was blood. She dialed 911 while trying to wake Ali, all she got was a groan from time to time. When the ambulance got there, the EMT carried her downstairs in a gurney, with a frantic Emily already downstairs on the phone with her mom, telling her what's going on. While in the ambulance Ali woke up in a panic while Emily was on the phone with Ali's parents and brother, telling them to come to the hospital. When they got to the hospital, they rushed Ali to the ER, a restricted area where Emily couldn't go until someone came and got her. While waiting she called Hanna, when Hanna didn't pick up she called Spencer who picked up on the third ring._

 _"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Spencer said gruffly, she didn't seem angry, she seemed annoyed._

 _"I-I'm at the hospital," she cried into the phone, "When I woke up there was so much blood."_

 _"What?!" She was fully awake, pushing Toby to get up, "I'll go pick up Hanna and Aria."_

 _"They don't know yet," Emily sniffled, "I tried called Han but she didn't answer."_

 _"Fuck!" Spencer groaned, "Call Aria, I'll go pick up Hanna, I'll bust her door down if I have to."_

 _"Thank, Spence." She choked out into the phone._

 _"No worries Em, I love you." Then she hung up._

 _Emily hurriedly dialed Aria's number getting an answer right away, "What's Up, Em?" She asked cheerfully. Emily really didn't have time for happy right now._

 _"I'm at the hospital right now, Ali's not okay." Was the first thing she said into the phone._

 _"Wait! What?" She didn't seem so cheery now, "I'm on my wa-"_

 _"Don't bother."_

 _"What?! Why?!" She screamed into the phone._

 _"Spence is coming to pick you guys up."_

 _"Alright well, I'll see you as soon as we can, Love you." She hung up._

 _Emily looked up and saw her mom and dad coming through the doors, eyes darting all over the place until they land on Emily. They engulfed her in a warm hug, Pam was crying, and Wayne was trying the comfort her. They hugged until Nurse came out asking for Emily, telling her if she wanted to come she had to follow her. Emily followed the nurse until they got outside of a room, she handed Emily scrubs and told her to put her hair up. She looked over to see Alison laying down with sweat all over her face, her eyes lit up when she saw Emily._

 _"Hey, sweetheart." She said placing a kiss on Alison's lips. Alison just smiled lazily._

 _Emily's phone buzzed in her pocket, pulling it out she saw it was Spencer,_

 ** _[Ravenclaw]: We just got here, seems like everyone else is here too._**

 _"Everyone's here, Ali." She said softly to her wife._

 _"Even Jason?" She asked hoarsely._

 _"Uhm…." She trailed off looking at her phone again._

 ** _[Emily]: Even Jason?_**

 _She got a quick reply._

 ** _[Ravenclaw]: Yup_**

 _Emily turned to Alison, "He's here."_

 _"Can he come in here?"_

 _"Excuse me? Nurse?" Emily called out, "Can another person come in here?"_

 _"Yeah, sure. Immediate family only." She answered politely._

 _"Alison, I'll be right back I'm just gonna go get Jason, Okay?"_

 _"Okay. I love you." She said sleepily._

 _"I love you too. Emily smile back._

 _When Emily came back with Jason, a few moments later, the doctors had to do a C-Section, or they would probably never get those babies out._

 _"Emily?" Alison's small voice spoke, loud enough to catch her wife's attention._

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Just in case I don't make it-"_

 _"You're gonna make it." Emily cut her off, not willing to admit the herself that there's a large chance Ali wasn't gonna make it._

 _" **Just** in case I don't make it," She paused, "I want you to know that you were the greatest things to ever happen to me. And I love you."_

 _"I love you too." Emily cried, holding Alison's hand._

 _A tear rolled out of Emily's eye, remembering Alison's last words. She looked at the picture on her bedside table. It was Lily and Grace smiling really hard at the camera, Emily looked into there eyes. Remembering the conversation she had with her mom after they found out the eye color._

 _"They have her eyes," Pam remarked, holding Grace._

 _It was a miracle when she first saw that the twins had blue eyes, It wasn't impossible, just highly unlikely._

 _"I don't know if that's killing me, or keeping me alive."_

* * *

I urge you all the listen to the song Terrible Things by Mayday Parade to get the general idea of where I was coming from. This isn't with my other ficlet because I don't know whether to turn it into a fic with the PLL kids or just leave it as a one-shot. Reviews will help me make that decision. I know I'm probably a little (Or a lot) off with the whole preeclampsia/eclampsia thing, but that was just an explanation to get into how she died. I literally know nothing.


End file.
